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A Frivolous Post About Classic Rock Reunions

In case you hadn’t heard, Led Zeppelin–minus John Bonham, obviously–is reuniting next month in London, England, for a show in honour of the late Ahmet Ertegun. The show is the band’s first actual, full-length concert since Bonham died the ultimate rock n’ roll death (i.e., he choked on his own vomit) in 1980…and it’s seemingly caused a mild stir. How mild? Between 20 and 30 million people applied for the 20,000 available tickets; as John Kryk points out, that’s one applicant for every 250 people in the world. It’s a staggering figure, and testament to nostalgia’s ongoing power to seduce the masses. Plus, y’know, that Led Zeppelin were really frigging good.

On a related note, the Van Halen reunion tour is passing through Calgary in December…and somehow (travel, I’d suspect) I missed the on sale. Tickets cost an exhorbitant amount of money and were gone within a few hours of becoming available…and yet there is absolutely no way I won’t be at this concert. I’ve heard reports that “Eruption” and the band’s cover of “You Really Got Me” comprise the opening salvo; given that knowledge, could I, in good conscience, not see the show when it’s theoretically within walking distance of my house? The answer, obviously, is no.

As for me, I’ve hit rock bottom: I am, for various reasons (i.e., the bed broke last week), sleeping on a mattress in the middle of the living room of an illegal basement suite. I live with a seventy-seven year-old lady who’s telling people I’m her son; our neighbour is clinically insane and was, I think, trying to break down my door last night (and if it wasn’t her, then it means I’ve got a second certifiable neighbour, which at this point wouldn’t surprise me in the least). Today, meanwhile, I was kicked out of a school; it’s such a crazy story I won’t delve into it, save to say it’s apparently never happened to a U of C recruiter before. Given all that, I think I’ve earned a night out with Diamond Dave and his assless chaps. Don’t you?